


One Hell of a T(r)ap

by dapperanachronism, Feelingsinwinter, MassiveSpaceWren



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Adventure, Getting Together, Injury, M/M, Mutual Admiration (from a distance), Snark, hunting Hydra
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-13
Updated: 2018-10-13
Packaged: 2019-08-01 14:49:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16286603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dapperanachronism/pseuds/dapperanachronism, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Feelingsinwinter/pseuds/Feelingsinwinter, https://archiveofourown.org/users/MassiveSpaceWren/pseuds/MassiveSpaceWren
Summary: Bucky's crusade to bring down HYDRA leads him to hiding out in a safe house in a bustling French city. Little does he know, he's not the only one here on a self made mission.Fic by: dapperanachronism & feelingsinwinterArt by: massivespacewren





	One Hell of a T(r)ap

**Author's Note:**

> The beautiful art by massivespacewren is [here on tumblr](http://massivespacewren.tumblr.com/post/179020027848/art-for-our-fun-collab-read-the-fic-one-hell-of)!
> 
> This is a fun collaboration we started after spending a weekend hanging out in Lille, which is a really cool city, full of adventure ready to be had.

He almost missed it, the sound of the door below and footsteps on the narrow, creaky stairs coming up to the apartement. Well shit. How the hell did someone else know about this place? The small, unmarked door on the street level wasn’t exactly standout. And yet, under the sounds of people talking loudly and passing on the street below, he could hear the unmistakable sound of heavy breathing and movement as someone dragged themselves up the narrow stairs.

Without thinking, Bucky grabbed the edge of the alcove that was built into the kitchen — a space about six feet long and two and a half feet tall cut into the wall at ceiling height. A curtain stretched across the opening and Bucky wasted no time in pulling himself up and yanking the curtain back in place. For a moment, he turned his focus to controlling his breathing. This was an Avengers safe house, one of a few that Steve had given him the locations of after he’d made contact, but after Bucky also told him that he needed time and space to sort himself out before he could come back. Well, sort himself out and also run down the remains of HYDRA cells that knew about him. Because he sure as hell wasn’t letting himself fall back into their hands. He’d die before he let them get their hands on him again, before he’d let them wipe him and use him and lose himself again.

There was a cell that had retreated here, to Lille, after the exposure and the data dump to regroup. Bucky had been tracking them, sneaking out to do his recon and hiding under cover of all the locals and the joggers that flocked to the park on the abnormally warm spring days. HYDRA had been smart, building themselves into a fortified, walled compound originally built in the 17th century, the perimeter covered in thick trees and shrubs. And while the public could easily walk around the outside of the old compound, they couldn’t go inside and there was no way to see over the walls. Hiding in plain sight. Clever assholes.

Bucky had been planning on making his move on the compound the following night. It was going to be tricky since he was trying to avoid blowing the place to hell — too much chance of harming civilians what with the compound in the middle of the city — but he had the element of surprise. Everything had been going according to plan. Until now.

The intruder stopped at the door and Bucky stilled his breathing. He was _certain_ that he hadn’t been spotted, or followed, and even if he had, surly HYDRA would have sent an entire team to bring him in, not a single operative. But maybe he’d fucked up. Maybe he hadn’t been carefully enough, and this was them coming for him — coming to try and take him back and make him theirs again. He wasn’t going to let that happen. He _wasn't’._ Bucky waited, tucked up in the alcove with his gun at the ready, waiting for the asshole who was going to regret sneaking up on the Winter Soldier. A second later, the keypad hidden behind the fake lock on the door beeped and clicked open, and the intruder stumbled in.

What the fuck?

HYDRA would have just kicked the door down. No one should have this code apart from the Avengers. And the Avengers weren’t _in_ France. Not that Bucky was keeping tabs on them, of course not. Except that he totally was because these were the people that Steve had decided to go traipsing around getting into shit with, and these were the people who could easily decide an ex-HYDRA asset shouldn’t be left running around on his own. Not that he thought that the Avengers would take him out in the permanent sense, but he wasn’t prepared to end up captive with them either. One day he’d come in, he knew that by now, but he wanted it to be on his own terms.

The door to the flat shut, and the man who’d just entered breathed a heavy sigh.

“Well fuck,” the man said, followed by a thump that sounded a lot like a head hitting against the wall. Bucky startled, and frowned. That. Was it —

He peered out from the crack between the curtain and the wall as the light in the kitchen flicked on, and Tony Stark dragged himself into the small room. Stark looked as though he’d seen a hell of a day, fatigue and raw nerves showing at the edges of his eyes. There were tears in his shirt — one across the shoulder and then another across the front of his stomach, and while they weren’t bleeding anymore, Bucky could see clearly where the gashes on his skin would be.

“JARVIS, status?”

Bucky couldn’t hear the reply on the other end. He guessed that Stark must have some kind of earpiece that he was using to talk to his AI. Because of course, Steve would end up working with some snarky, gorgeous, asshole of a genius. During the time that Bucky definitely hadn’t been looking into each of the Avengers, he’d developed a solid respect for each of them. They all had incredible skills, with or without enhancements. He had had flashes of memory of the fight on a bridge and Wilson going toe to toe along with Steve and Natasha against the squad of HYDRA agents that came behind Bucky, armed with nothing but a knife. No wonder he followed along with reckless Steve. The pair of them, honestly.

He respected them all, but Tony… Tony was something different. Bucky had spent far too many hours reading about his accomplishments and all the random shit that he did and made, and watching shitty quality YouTube videos of all . He’d figured out that Tony Stark had a hell of a mouth on him, and in his head, Bucky had taken to calling him Tony Snark. Immature, maybe, but it’s not like Stark was ever going to know. It’s not like Stark and he were ever going to end up in the same space any time soon. Or at least they weren’t supposed to.

Except now, Stark was standing close enough that Bucky could lean down over the edge of the alcove and smack Stark upside the head. Stark stepped forward, leaning against the counter and his shoulders slumped. He let out a shaky breath and Bucky felt a little awkward, like he was spying on a private moment that he was never meant to see.

Not like there was much he could do about it now. Bucky let his shoulders relax and lowered his gun. Stark wasn’t a threat, and he sure wasn’t HYDRA, so at least Bucky could breath again.

After a moment Stark stood up straight again and grabbed a glass. He reached over to turn the sink tap on— and as the water came pouring out, the tap let out a loud, uneven shriek.

A godawful, pipe rattling, pits of hell shriek that sounded as though the entire sink was trying to shake itself apart and descend into the void.

Stark yelled and jumped back in surprise, the glass clattering in the sink as he dropped it.

“Dammit Barton, you said you were going to fix this,” Stark swore as he smacked the tap to shut it off again.

Bucky sniggered.

It wasn’t a loud sound, but in such a small space, and in the deafening silence that followed the tap shriek, he might as well have been laughing out loud.

In one fluid (and frankly impressive) movement, Stark grabbed the glass from the sink, turned, and threw it at the source of the noise — directly into the alcove at Bucky. Reflexively, Bucky darted out a hand and snatched it before it could hit him.

Stark blinked in surprised confusion.

“What the fuck?” Stark swore and reached behind him, scrambling to grab something else that could be used as a weapon. There were knives in the drawer by his right hand, Bucky knew, and not feeling like dodging any more projectiles, Bucky rolled out of the alcove, landing on his feet in a crouch in front of Stark before Stark could grab one.

For half a second, Stark stared at him in utter shock.

“Fancy meeting you here,” Bucky said, going for casual and falling a touch short. That seemed enough to break Stark out of his stunned silence.

“Fancy— fancy meeting _me_ here?” he sputtered. “This is an Avengers safe house. What the hell is a Soviet Murder Bot slash World War popscicle doing here?”

“Staying safe,” Bucky said with a shrug.

“Very funny. How’d you know to come here. Wait, don’t tell me. It was Steve.” Bucky didn’t confirm or deny. He didn’t need to.

“Of course,” Stark huffed. “Steve mentioned you made contact. I’m guessing he gave you a list of places in case you needed to lay low during your down with HYDRA crusade.”

It was Bucky’s turn to shrug now. “Who says I’m going after HYDRA? Maybe I just like the town.”

“Well for one, I don’t for one second believe it’s a coincidence that you happen to be here in Lille when there just happens to be a HYDRA base tucked under the Citadel. And for two, I know a thing about angry revenge crusades.”

Right. Gulmira. Bucky remembered reading about that when he was digging up information on Steve’s new gang of troublemakers.

“You know, your tap needs fixing,” Bucky nodded towards it, abruptly changing the subject.

“Thank you Captain Obvious. I hadn’t noticed,” Stark replied flatly. Bucky pushed past him with a roll of his eyes and made his way over to the sink. With a quick movement, he opened the cupboard, reached underneath with his metal hand, and gave a nut a couple of sharp twists.

“There,” he said and flicked the tap back on. The apartment was instantly filled with the sound of running water, and that was it. No shrieking, no shaking, no demon screaming noise.

“I could have done that. I was going to do that,” Stark protested.

“Yeah well. I beat you to it,” Bucky said. “Least I can do for invading your safe house.”

“Speaking of, I’m going to ask again. What _are_ you doing here?”

“Told you, staying safe,” Bucky shrugged. Stark rolled his eyes, clearly running out of fucks to give. “What are you doing here?”

“Getting my ass unceremoniously handed to me by HYDRA. Same as you,” Stark said.

“I was not getting my ass handed to me, thank you,” Bucky huffed in protest.

“Uh huh. Then why was HYDRA on high alert when I showed up to do my recon?”

“Cause they’re paranoid bastards?” Bucky suggested, feigning innocence.

“Right,” Stark responded, scepittically. “Had nothing to do with the fact that there were reports of sighting their lost asset and the whole base was in full blown panic mode, shoot first ask questions later.”

“That what happened to you?” Bucky nodded towards the damp bloody patches visible on Starks shirt. “What about the suit?”

“Suit isn’t exactly inconspicuous,” Stark pointed out. “This was supposed to be recon only. I didn’t expect to find the place fully staffed.”

“Neither did I,” Bucky admitted. Fucking HYDRA must have pulled back and regrouped without his knowledge. Somehow. Dammit, this not being able to track everything at once was really starting to suck. He didn’t want to admit it — at least to himself — but he really could use back up.

He glanced back at Stark, nodded once sharply to himself, and then dug a large first aid kit out from the cupboard. “Shirt off,” he demanded, opening the kit and pulling out what he’d need.

Stark raised an eyebrow at him. It somehow managed to make him seem even more smug and charming than normal. “Why Barnes, we’ve only just met. Rather forward isn’t it? I don’t usually put out on the first date. Well, not anymore,” he conceded.

"Well, I don't like people bleeding all over my kitchen," Bucky huffed, staring pointedly at Tony.

"I'm sorry, whose kitchen?" Stark said, batting his eyes at Bucky.

"I was here first. Squatters rights," Bucky replied, unperturbed. "Now, shirt off so I can take a look."

"And what if I say no?" Stark asked playfully. Bucky continued to stare at him flatly, and said nothing. "Fine, fine." Stark rolled his eyes, but carefully tugged his shirt off over his head. He winced slightly, and as his chest was exposed, Bucky saw a line of bruises down Tony's side where he'd clearly taken a hit, and a long, ugly gash that was still bleeding.

"They shoot at you?" Bucky asked, though the answer was obvious right in front of him.

"It's just a graze. Lucky hit," Stark shrugged.

"That the only one?" Bucky asked.

Stark nodded. Bucky studied the wound carefully. It wasn't great, but it was nowhere near as bad as it could have been. Stark had been lucky. "Next time you go in somewhere trying to do recon, wear kevlar," Bucky told him, placing a hand on Starks shoulder and guiding him over to a chair where he forced Stark to sit.

"Bet you didn't wear kevlar," Stark ony pouted, wincing again slightly at the movement.

"Not the point, I'm a super soldier," Bucky waved him off, moving over to the sink to wash his hands. He flicked the tap on and the water came out in a steady, normal stream, without sounding like demons were trying to crawl through the pipes.

"Super soldiers can still get shot," Stark pointed out.

Bucky hummed, and shook his hands dry, before grabbing a pair of gloves from the first aid kit. "Yes, but I'm faster, and I recover quicker."

"You. Can. Still. Get. Shot." Stark glared at him.

"Okay, yes. I can still get shot," Bucky agreed. "But, as it were, I had my tac gear, and I wore that. So hah. Take that. Wear kevlar next time."

Stark glared over at him, as Bucky knelt beside the chair, first aid kit laying open on another chair beside him. "You're mean," Stark told him.

"Uh huh, whatever you say," Bucky looked up and flashed him a bright, charming smile. He was pretty sure he wasn't imaging the way that Starks cheeks flushed a little. Bucky smirked, and turns his attention back to the wound. First things first, he needed to clean it, and then sterilise it. "This is going to sting. And by sting, I mean, it's going to hurt like a bitch. So, why don't you tell me what you learned while I work? It'll distract you. Maybe."

"I show you mine, you show me yours?" Stark asked, wiggling his eyebrows in what Bucky assumed was supposed to be a suggestive manner, but really just ended up looking hilariously adorable.

"Yeah, something like that," Bucky agreed. "Now hang on."

As Bucky worked at cleaning out the wound, flushing it, wiping it down, sterilising, Stark conceded to the exchange of information, and filled him in on everything that he'd learned -- interspersed with some profound and impressive expletives when Bucky doused the wound in iodine. By the time Bucky was carefully covering the wound in gauze, taping it down and wrapping everything up to keep it in place, he was giving Stark information of his own. Turns out, they'd both come to the same conclusion, that HYDRA was running operations in the region out of the citadel, right under the noses of the entire population. It wasn't really surprising. HYDRA and the SSR both had a history of hiding their bases underneath storefronts, and barber shops. Hiding in plain sight. And it helped immensely here that the citadel was already a fortified military installation, so it wasn’t like the public could just wander in and out.

Stupid HYDRA and being too damn good at hiding. Bucky was looking forward to fucking the place up on principle.

"There, you're all good," he said, pulling the gloves off and stuffing them in a bag which he then tied off. No need to leave biohazards laying around. "Take some Tylenol, get some rest. You'll need it. Sorry I don't have anything stronger to offer you. But then again, I'm not the one who stocked the first aid kit. So really, it's your fault."

"You know, you're not funny," Stark said with a grin that seemed to indicate the exact opposite. "So, Buckaroo, what's our plan?"

"What do you mean, what's _our_ plan?' Bucky cocked an eyebrow at Stark — Tony?. "My plan is to fuck some shit up. Your plan is to sleep and get over being shot."

"Barely shot," Tony waved him off.

"Still shot."

"Tough shit, I didn't come all this way, and get my ass handed to me just to sit back and let you have all the fun now."

Bucky rolled his eyes. "God, you're stubborn. I can see where you and Steve get along. Or why you wouldn't sometimes. Speaking of coming all this way, why are you here? And why are the rest of the Avengers not with you? You make a point of hunting HYDRA on your own?"

"Only recently," Tony said, suddenly becoming very distracted by something non-existent on the table.

"Uh huh, how recently?" Bucky asked.

"Bout the time I realised that you were hunting HYDRA heads too," Tony admitted. "After Steve said you had made contact with him, and convinced him to not come charging after you, I noticed that a lot of places we had pinged on our radar were going dark. I assumed Steve was feeding you information."

"He is," Bucky confirmed. "But I told him not to come right now, while I was picking off the smaller sites. Captain America suddenly going missing from his home turf, spotted in random places around the world, HYDRA is going to pick up on that and know that the Avengers are coming."

"But bases going dark by you aren't going to raise suspicion?" Tony asked incredulously.

"Not as much. I'm only one person, and I'm an asset. An asset they're trying to take back alive. Puts me in a unique position. If Captain America and the Avengers charge in, they know things are changing. Believe it or not, this is strategic. I'm going to call in backup when I start hitting the stronger holds. Which doesn't explain why you came out here."

Tony refused to say anything. but Bucky was patient. He could wait. He continued to stare at Tony, waiting silently for an answer. He wait. And waited. Until Tony cracked.

"I was hoping to run into you," Tony admitted, throwing up his arms. He immediately swore in pain as the movement pulled at his side.

"You should probably not do that," Bucky said, looking pointedly at the bandage.

"Yeah, thank you. Figured that out," Tony muttered, glaring at him.

"So, looking for me. Why?" Bucky asked.

Tony shrugged in reply. "I wanted to find you. I was curious. Wanted to see you face to face."

"Me? Or the soldier?" Bucky asked him, feeling discomfort tug at his chest a little. Had Tony just wanted to see The Winter Soldier? Assess the asset? Decide if he was a threat?

"Wanted to see Bucky Barnes," Tony said honestly. "The former HYDRA asset. Steve's best friend. Wanted to know what you were like, offer to watch your six. Help you take the bastards down. See if you were as handsome and charming and badass as you seemed."

"And? What's the verdict?"

"You're more," Tony admitted. "You're a snarky, sassy bastard. I like it."

Well, that was interesting to know, now wasn't it. "If you think flattering me is going to change my mind about letting you tag along-"

"-I'm tagging along anyway, Buckster. The flattery is just because."

"Oh you are, are you?"

"I am," Tony said firmly. "Don't know if you know this about me, I'm a stubborn asshole."

Bucky barked out a short, genuine laugh. "Yeah, I'd figured that out," he said. "One more question though. If you were looking for me, why were you surprised to find me in the apartment?"

"Well I figured you'd be in the area, I didn't think you'd be hiding out in my safehouse!"

"Yeah, okay. Fair point." Bucky conceded. "Fine. Let's talk about our plan."

***

A day and a half later, just after the sunset, Bucky donned his tac gear, and crept along the tree line towards the citadel, Tony at his side wearing a recently acquired, lightweight Kevlar vest. Bucky checked his weapons again for the fourth time. "You ready?" Bucky asked quietly, eyeing their point of entry.

Tony leaned over, and pressed a quick kiss to the corner of Bucky's mouth. "Let's go give 'em hell."

Bucky grinned, and side by side, they moved. HYDRA wouldn't know what hit them.

**Author's Note:**

> If you're curious, some photos (courtesy of google) of what the Citadel of Lille looks like, [view from the air](https://goo.gl/images/x6cavk), and [what you see walking outside the walls](https://goo.gl/images/43E7Rb)


End file.
